While most people think that it’s Android and iOS who are battling each other, sometimes actually it’s Android battling itself or should we say something that claims that it is something else. Recently, it came out that Acer was nearly abandoned when they announced that they were going to be releasing a phone that is powered by Alibaba’s Aliyun OS.
Because of this, Google said they would remove them from the Open Handset Alliance. While this sounded anti-competitive at first, it was because in the rules of being a member of the Open Handset Alliance, members can’t release non-compatible versions of Android. You see, Aliyun actually runs on Android despite them claiming that they aren’t.
Google’s Chief of Android, Andy Rubin, came out publicly about the whole situation and even included the fact that the Aliyun app store is featuring pirated Android apps. Houston, we have a problem. In doing some digging, Ars Technica found apps such as Angry Birds, Temple Run, and Eternity Warriors 2. The problem was, the developers listed were not the actual developers of those games.
Not only do watermarks indicate that the apps originate from another pirate site, but the creator of Temple Run himself said that the “developer” doesn’t look familiar and looks pirated. Clearly there is something fishy going on and it appears that Alibaba is allowing this piracy to happen in order to increase their numbers and own bottom line.